6 Months - Paralyzed
by HalocraZze
Summary: A One-Shot that I decided to upload since I started rewatching the anime about a week ago. Centers around an unknown OC and her issues and hinted romantic feelings for a certain, two-toned redhead. The title '6 months' has nothing to do with this single chapter itself, but the main story I have in mind.


**„6 Months"**

 **-One Shot -**

 **-PILOT -**

 _Paralyzed_

* * *

There was something...off.

It was hot...or rather crammed.

Wherever she was, it was pitch black nothingness surrounding her.

„Damn, just leave me alone..."

The tiniest curse left her as a heavy sigh slipped her lips subconsciously.

But what was it actually?

No one there besides her although it couldn't possibly be her own flat regarding this dead dark to her left and right framing her bed and covering the floor.

…Which could only mean-

She rested her elbow on the incredibly smooth blanket beneath her while turning her body to the other side of the king sized bed she had to be lying on.

„Kagami?"

Her voice echoed through the room the second her gaze fell on the gaping empty spot on the floor where said redhead had slept pretty comfortably the other morning.

Trying to make out anything else apart from this surreal blackness, her hands pushed against soft white sheets until her body found support and allowed her to at least lean on those freaking huge pillows.

„What time do you think it is?"

Her own voice sounded so far away as her hand grabbed said cushion and threw it across the room where the innocent object collided with the wall rather unspectacular.

"Ah-"

She lowly mumbled upon realizing she had thrown one of his pillows around his room to a spot in direct opposite direction of where this annoyingly loud bass came from and where it should have gone.

Now that it had slid down the wall, plopped to the floor and instantly merged with the black stuff floating all over the usually wooden parquet, she wondered where this sound actually came from.

"The living room...?"

In the spur of the moment, her legs slid over the edge of this big-ass bed and she smoothly swung off the sheets not knowing there wouldn't be anything like a floor meeting her feet in the breadth of a second later.

..She fell.

* * *

 _Obviously._

Her new field of vision cleared up as she looked at the not so new ceiling of her own four walls.

Looking somewhere else while slowly sitting up from what seemed to be her bed, although there was no such thing in here, just woolen blankets spread over the old fashioned, slightly scratchy carpet at best, the last bit of sleep had left her senses.

"I know that song." She stated indifferently.

That said, she once again leapt out of bed – off her cluster of sheets – and walked out of what once had been used as a bedroom, although not by her.

Scratching the back of her head while moving past the digital clock on a massive shelf on the wall, her eyes made out the faintly glowing of the LED-lights displaying time and day, right above the much more significant piercing digits of her thermostat reading 15°C.

There was no more than a slight buzz left in her ears, pretty much only in her head than coming from any real electronic device.

Attempting to get rid of that – and the seemingly hot air in here too, her hands naturally found the latch connected to her large uninsulated window and pushed it open in the same way she did whenever she aired out the room.

It was only short after midnight and outside, the cars where covered by a thing coat of frost, forming ice crystals and the most beautiful silhouettes on the glass she used to adore so much.

Not so much now, though.

She was feeling too indifferent to care about anything but the fact she had fallen asleep listening to music on the spot where the king sized bed stood. Not in her own bedroom, but in the room next to hers and this shady flat, in a much more pretty place that actually had plastered over concrete as a ceiling instead of the polystyrene boards her eyes were met after waking up just now.

A silent sigh fell from her lips as she walked over to the glass panes posing as the door to her 'premium' balcony. 'Premium' in this case meaning a sorry excuse of a barely planned out patio, framed by cardboard panes to shield her flat from outsiders views.

Quietly opening the door by assertively pressing against the cold glass, she entered her very own version of 'staycation-land'.

It was so foggy out here that there was no way to make out any sign of tapestry in these parts of town, even when it was peaceful despite the street lights skimming off the backyards from the rather well build main road behind this apartment complex.

Her fingers ran over the frayed cardboard connecting to the apartment next door.

A soft smile appeared on her indifferent features as she noticed the dim light of his TV ghosting against the building across from here through the prettily cleaned windows.

There was another game airing tonight, no doubt.

Come to think of it, when had she called him _Kagami_ for the last time?

"Feels like ages..."

Her words left tiny clouds of white breath against the air out here as she chuckled in thought of the one most probably sprawling over his large sofa next door.

There was no way said baske-nut was still awake after today's practice.

A last glance to his beautifully constructed balcony making hers look even less pretty and she tiptoed back inside while the cold concrete started numbing all sense of temperature from the palms of her bare feet.

The instant her legs moved her into the neatly decorated living room, her body was met with almost room temperature warmth right in time before she would have started to feel the chill from staying outside for a few minutes.

As if they'd never done anything else, her feet maneuvered her now tired li8mbs over to the three-seated couch that looked so much more attracting to her than the messy sheets in her supposed-to-be bedroom.

Burying her hands beneath her warm neck after throwing the woolen Christmas themed blanket over her small frame, her eyes took in the familiar color of fading lime green the -for her- especially comfy couch was clad in.

While the dim light from next door's late night sports program ever so slightly flashed into her moonlit flat, she felt her eyelids grow heavier and heavier by the second.

Almost immediately after closing them, she surrendered to her bodies fatigue and gave in to the cozy warmth while falling quietly into the depths of her usually empty fields of dreamland.

* * *

There was something else...

Something inexplicably huge, close and drawing even nearer to where she lay as if it was about to drag her out of her slumber by her cold feet.

Her eyes were wide open as he mind freely took in each and every detail in this room.

It wasn't dark, neither hot or cold, just like her typical living room as if she was awake.

But she knew right from the start that there was no such thing as being awake while feeling someone – something else in this room besides herself and letting it meander over the floor of her untypically dirty flat.

No way this was real, her senses sharp as always and her perception of sound and motion just the same.

Then what was it actually? Why did she have to wake up then?

But she knew.

This was just another dream, another scenario her mind tried fooling her into believing it was real while her thoughts only revolved around just one thing:

Waking up.

Compared to the other dream this night, it wasn't stifling quiet or dark, right now, something far more lucid than these shallow things was going to crush her. This wasn't one of those dreams you had while being about to fall asleep, well - not the kind she had whenever she dozed off after closing her eyes and losing grasp of reality.

No.

It was that.

The walls were softly vibrating by every motion her heartbeats would have normally left in her chest.

There was this pulsing through her veins that felt completely detached and estranged from her very body as she lay still on what supposedly should have been her bed.

By bed, she meant the couch used for sleeping more than her bed would have been if she had owned one in the first place.

This was a dream, but she experienced it like she was wide awake.

And yet, this thing drew closer, tangling it's limbs with hers after it had effortlessly found a way around her feet, it wasn't going to jump her, nor would it be attempting to harm her.

But it was still there.

By the time it had reached her knees and made it's way up to her hips and waist, she didn't even remember when it had started moving towards her, being this close all of a sudden, only that it was there.

By no means did she move, not that she could if she had tried to.

Her breath would be stopped just like her body the second she imagined it crawling up to her over the floor. But she couldn't remember.

While her eyes were painfully focused on the spot where it would inevitably appear once it grasped her hands, by that moment, it would be too late.

 _ **Thump.**_

The first heartbeat shook her without making any part of her body move even slightly.

Her heart was beating; loudly, uncontrollably.

Along with the walls, the floor was now shaking in lively motion and sent waves of the exact same loud noise her ears always fooled her into hearing at this point.

Soon, the colors would form a deep grayish white lump of thick clouds and be drawn to her like the water going down the drain in a bathtub; but more loudly, with a noise it shouldn't do or ever could if this was real. But she couldn't recall any sound besides the one filling her eardrums.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath until her lungs would no longer be able to take it anymore and warned her they'd burst if she didn't exhale the leftover oxygen that burnt her throat and nostrils in the meantime.

But it didn't stop.

Along with her chest being lifted up grotesquely, her head was pushed into the surface below her body.

And there it was.

Looming over her, a faceless, formless _thing_ she used to think of as sound or scent or even touch.

But it wasn't any of these things.

It was nothing her lucid mind would be imagining if she was as wide awake as she tried to be while obviously being controlled in her sleep right now.

Her memory told her she had closed her eyes, but the vision displayed before her was clear, they were wide open and aching painfully, begging her to blink.

She couldn't move, talk or even think except for being saved from whatever was sure to devour her any second while her lungs surely had collapsed not too long ago.

There was something apart from herself and it's fangs reached for her neck while pushing the rest of her body into the couch she remembered to have fallen asleep on.

And how it would have made her shake if it only allowed her to move to that extent while she could feel formless breath right in her face.

She wished to punch it, scrape it's skin off, kick it or just put some distance between it and herself despite knowing it wasn't hurting her even now.

So she lifted her hands, up from the blanket that suppressed the obvious struggle her legs put up but couldn't move, she could feel them grabbing hold of it's neck as the tiny bit of air remaining in her own throat ran out.

The hot liquid trickling down her face told her that she wouldn't get out of it's grasp while she knew that the thing was no longer facing her.

She didn't move an inch although she imagined tossing and turning her body around in reality while it was clear that she was dreaming motionlessly in her half-sleep.

That was all it was; just the gap between sleep and being awake, nothing more.

But knowing this had never saved her from being strangled by her own hands that weren't even moving in reality but lay peacefully on both sides of her legs.

There was nothing pushing her down, but her mind always made her believe so.

She was paralyzed.

Not by fear or her inability to breathe, but by having fallen into the tiny crack of nothingness between dream and reality.

 _Somebody..._

She imagined her sore throat beg.

 _Anybody-_

It had to have swallowed her completely as she saw the dim light disappear from her sight while her back gave in and it felt like her whole being was harshly crushed into whatever there was beneath her.

 _-Wake. Me. Up!_

Her lungs seemed to burst after what felt like drowning for an eternity as she jolt up from her sofa and stared disoriented into the gaping emptiness of her living room.

She didn't have time reminiscing about what was just another bad dream.

The tears that had started forming in the corners of her eyes clouded her field of vision and she couldn't make out that the comforting light the TV had cast into her flat through another window was long gone.

After sitting up so rapidly, only black dots appeared in front of her as she had already managed to get up from her bedding and now stumbled out the living room and towards the open door leading to her bathroom.

If this was just another wave of nausea building up, she would be able to calm down quickly after letting it out, but if it wasn't, she'd be spending more time than planned in front of the toilet.

Not that she had planned actually spending time in the bathroom with her face so close to her toilet while her body started breaking out into cold sweat while slumping down next to said white porcelain with her back against the prettily tiled wall.

Time seemed to drag on for the few minutes of her cowering there without anything happening but the blood spreading through her body normally again after rushing to her head in a second of panic she'd naturally feel when nausea washed over her shivering form.

Not even five minutes had passed until she raised her hands to her head and helplessly but nonetheless relieved stroked through her hair.

"Oh fuck-" her voice cracked, as what first started like a sob, turned into choked laughter as she became aware of what she was doing for the third time this week.

 _Aah-_

Her thoughts were already clear while her body wouldn't quite listen to her as she slowly got up to move over to the sink to splash her face with cold water in case she hadn't completely gotten rid of all sleepiness after that jump start earlier.

She fought the urge to punch the mirror as another set of shivers ran down her spine and twisted her stomach after turning off the water and pushing her hair out of her sickly white face.

Only taking deeper breaths while steadily telling herself to forget the fact she had threatened to suffocate while doing exactly the same thing in her sleep, she dared her feet to find their way back out of the restroom and to the living room by themselves.

At least her instincts were working while her heart still made loud throbbing noises as it thumped away against her chest as if she had run to catch up to a speeding care for hours.

Seeing how the cold sweat had only appeared on her forehead and neck, she brushed it off and didn't bother changing out of her clothes since they wouldn't start to reek at this point anyway. She was good to go like this, she thought while downing the half empty glass of tap water and wiped droplets off her chin after spilling it just by a tiny bit while she still felt besides herself.

"For fucks sake-" she hissed lowly.

"Will this ever end?"

Her naked feet dragged over to the small spot near the entrance where her usual pair of high heels, worn out chucks and someone else's joggers were spread across the floor.

Grabbing her deserted looking pair of Doc Martens from the hook on her wall, she didn't bother turning around to check the time or bringing at least a jacket or proper pants along since she was obviously making her way outside.

It indeed felt cold as the sharp pain reached her toes the instant she stepped onto the corridor that connected the single apartment units to the official staircase for the residents of this quite newly built apartment complex.

This could actually help her calm down id she stayed here for a while, but she didn't want to wake the others by making sudden noises up here, so she tiptoed over to the stairs and carefully walked her way down to the ground floor.

She wouldn't need a key, her lock only closed properly by slamming it shut by force anyway and like hell would she be so thoughtless and do that in the middle of the night at god-knew-which time it actually was.

The closer she got to the exit, the further she felt her frame turn cold before she was completely engulfed by fresh outside air as the doors silently closed behind her back.

 _Fucking shit!_

She inwardly cursed at the much welcomed cold while shivering uncontrollably at first and wincing at the even colder pavement at her still bare feet since she hadn't slipped into her boots yet, if she would even do so at all.

"Of course it's be cold, dumbass." She murmured to herself while her body had almost gotten used to the nightly even further dropping temperatures.

As she stepped even further onto the small backyard of the apartment complex, the sudden change of temperature almost felt like a slap across her face.

At least it burned equally as much, she really needed that now.

It hadn't started snowing this year and every winter around this time, she started wondering if there would even be any in the first place.

Her gaze shifted to the old Sakura tree that used to tint the place in a pale shade of pink every spring until it covered the ground like fluffy cotton candy.

A chuckle left her lips at the thought and her tense shoulders finally gave in to the soothing coldness that pressed on her like water in a hot spring. What an incredible comparison indeed.

After staring at the night sky for another few minutes, she sighed and contently closed her tired eyes while the tiniest gusts of wind felt like waves crashing against her skin.

She could have stayed like that for a good hour before getting enough of this cold, even though her toes and lips started feeling incredibly painful before going numb almost at the same time.

What had happened in there was always the same, no matter how often it occurred lately, it got worse and there was no way preparing for it but to be well aware of the syndrome while falling asleep.

But she felt like it wasn't as bad as it had been a good ten minutes ago when she had practically waited to throw up and get rid of the anxious feeling waking up like that had left in her guts.

Sleep paralysis was just a form of muscle atonia, or muscle weakness while you were about to either fall asleep or wake up.

In her case, it was between the two.

And it always felt the same: helpless, painful, suffocating and was followed by more or less heavy panic attacks and nausea. At least in her case, not that she's talk to anyone about it since it was a common thing among people between the age of 25 and 40.

It felt even worse when you knew there was someone in close proximity who would rush in to help you instantly without question. But there was no way to make outwardly gestures to anyone suggesting them to _save_ you from it.

So she felt even more off waking someone else after another outburst and attempt to choke on her own breath. As a matter of fact, anyone could suffer from this, even the best trained men or 'Sylvester Stallones' couldn't help that inability to move which made it even more frightening, but relieved her almost as much as it shook her.

It didn't make her feel just as weak or powerless.

She had started gazing at the stars while subconsciously humming some catchy song she had heard earlier this day while tiptoeing around from one dead cold foot to the other.

There was a sudden wave of nausea washing over her as she clutched both hands at her chest and firmly closed her eyes while it was slowly passing again.

She felt the same throbbing pain like back inside and cowered down while pressing both the palms of her hands in front of her face and breathing out to calm herself with the rather warm steam forming between her hands.

Another sigh escaped her as the shuddering started anew and she crossed her arms while leaning her forehead against her knees in a futile attempt to shut out the sound of her throbbing heart.

At this rate she really would break if it didn't stop soon.

* * *

-POV Change-

Who the hell would go outside in the middle of the night after trying to wreck his next door neighbors flat without even saying a word to its owner?

By god, it was bloody freezing out here!

Even more thoughts mixed with slightly bad words filled his head as he had to step out since he was unable to see clearly from his spot.

Despite him wearing a vest, it was cold. Fucking cold.

But who else could be mad- or reckless enough to come out here?

After all, he only knew one one person living in that shady flat next to his comparably spacey apartment.

Of course he was right.

It really was her, having some kind of of urge to come out to freeze to her certain death.

He watched the girl wander out of the exit like a ghost and keep moving despite being hit by the refrigerator out there like a truck hitting a wall...apart from the fact she didn't seem to mind and kept walking around our there on her tiptoes.

She wasn't even wearing the boots dangling from her equally naked fingers.

Seeing her like that, he would ave mistaken her for a bad spirit or a hallucination regarding how sickly white her skin appeared, more like transparent matter close to glass reflecting moonlight like the surface of a still lake.

What flattering words he found this late at night.

He had actually decided to walk up to her and drag her back inside until she stopped walking ans seemed even more lost and silent than usual by herself when no one seemed to be watching.

Something was off about this, about her, he could easily tell.

He didn't know what it was although he had seen this happen a few times already, strange enough, he had never asked despite really being curious as to why this girl would get up and pace around the backyard like this.

At first, he had only heard some rumbling from her flat, then the door opening and then nothing, her almost smashing up the place was a bottomless exaggeration of course.

That meant she wasn't planning to pay him a sudden visit then.

Upon freeing himself from the mess of a blanket that was strangely entangled with his legs, he noticed his TV to have gone into hibernation mode after he had to have dozed off around midnight.

It was almost a wonder that he had noticed any sounds coming from her, she usually only made noises if she wanted someone to hear it, plus he was still half asleep during the moment the girl got out and lumbered around the hallway haphazardly.

Apparently, the redheaded ace had waited for her to come knocking on his door to wake him up because he overslept again, or whatever reason she'd have for coming over.

Thinking about it, there were so many...

But he had still decided to get up from his damn comfy sofa, tumbled out the door like he was sleepwalking, just to find no one outside his apartment, but already downstairs judging by the soft tapping of toes in the hallway.

"Hoshi...?"

His low voice right now really wouldn't make anyone listen up, so he wasn't surprised the girl still stood there like a statue. Her small frame looked unreal against the darkness and a sudden breeze should have shaken her, she only seemed to take it in like she welcomed the cold.

Now, this wasn't good. She had started staring blankly at the sky while shivers were even making their way up someones tall and naturally hot blooded body from the cold.

His feet started moving accordingly while his cautious gaze was locked on the quite lightly dressed person standing beneath the basketball hoop.

Almost to his amusement, she started switching from one foot to the other as her skin was signaling her to start turning into ice, if her toes hadn't already died off of course.

Avoiding a dry remark of hers like he's usually throw his way, he suppressed a chuckle and raised his voice while walking down the set of stairs to the backyard.

"It's almost four am, what the actual hell are you doing?"

A wide grin already plastered his features as the girl didn't seem to hear him, or blatantly ignored the taller of the two; weird enough.

 _The night sky must be pretty interesting._ He thought before coming up with another way to tease her, just a bit was fine, right?

"I've never seen you sleepwalking before-"

As there were barely ten meters between them, something seemed to be off about the girl as she started shivering and finally slumped down to the ground while she covered her ears.

 _What the-_

"Hey-!"

He quickly came closer until the girl was already looking like she was going to fall over completely.

Apparently, the girl was actually trying to get rid of the painful throbbing coming from her chest and wearily looked over her shoulders like she had heard someone behind her.

The way she looked at him indifferently like that sent shivers down his spine as he was a bit taken aback by how aware she seemed.

A significant tone of blue took over her lips making quite the contrast to her reddened eyes and the taller of the two was already behind her, tearing off his vest and about to wrap it around the girl.

"Whoa- What do you think you're doing?!"

His voice was loud and sounded quite surprised upon seeing her skin completely drained from all color and her knees trembling considerably while the look on her faxce wasn't all that indifferent after all.

Right as he was about to throw his vest over her shoulders, she lifted her left hand signaling him to stop before she raised her voice eventually.

"Don't. It's okay, I came out here like that on purpose, hogging your jersey wouldn't make any sense."

Her words were strangely clear and although he wanted to talk back, he saw the strange look in her slightly restless eyes that used to be soft and calm during the day.

Before putting it back on, he stepped beside the girl cowering down there already looking like a frozen corpse. Her breath was slightly irregular as far as he could tell while it made the air in front of her face turn white while she didn't directly looked at the taller one next to her.

"What's wrong?"

His eyes lowered down as they displayed something strongly resembling concern while they rested on her and the girl knew a simple _'Nothing.'_ wouldn't quite cut it.

"It's alright."

She slowly stopped embracing her knees and slightly rose from the ground while feeling his intense gaze on her although she didn't even feel that bad anymore.

* * *

-POV change-

I hadn't heard him come down here at all.

Hopefully, he hadn't even seen me in that sorry state after rushing out my flat, I really couldn't have him stare at me like that and drag me back inside like the worrywart he was. The feeling that had welled up in my chest just now had stopped and the pain had almost ceased along with the roaring noise I had tried shutting out.

Now the only thing remaining was this slight trembling and his deep read eyes resting on each and every move she made.

"What happened?"

His voice was all gruff since he had to have just gotten up from falling asleep on his sofa.

 _I'm already sorry for waking you like this._

A somewhat startled look ghosted over his reddened face as my own softened up simply by thinking about that.

But I still stayed quiet.

Just having him here for now was more than I could and definitely _would_ have asked for.

He probably knew anyway, he always understood more or less what the slightest signs I was meant, there was really no reason for me to keep quiet about something stupid like this, he had even experienced this first hand and could pretty much grasp what it did to me whenever I woke up like that.

It didn't take a genius to spot I had some troubles then and there, of course this guy would notice this when I was practically there all the time and barely ever kept any secrets from him.

But never had I stormed outside like that, not when I should have known he would sooner or later find me sitting out here because he sensed something was wrong, however he did that.

"Can't sleep, huh."

That was more of a statement than a question apparently.

His gaze shifted to the shoes to my right as he lowered himself to the ground next to the spot where I was squatting.

I could see how he forced himself to act normal and like it wasn't cold at all so he didn't complain about it, I knew still knew he had to feel it just as terribly as me since his jersey wasn't all that thick and he only wore one of his typical sweatshirts underneath.

As I stopped shivering, he looked up to the stars just like I had done before nausea struck and got the better of e again.

There was school tomorrow, for the both of us, but while I sat out here on my own accord, he most probably didn't. Much to my surprise though, he didn't push me to get up and hurry inside although it meant for him to be pretty tired for practice after school which was actually in less hours than was good for him.

I felt him shift in his seat to lean back against the hoop behind us and almost flinched as our elbows softly bumped into each other upon which his remarkably warm skin collided with mine and it was a miracle he didn't pull away by the drastic difference between the two.

"Damn, how cold are you?"

He asked the rhetorical question as a means to tell me to at least put on long sleeves and maybe some pants the next time I did that and didn't want to freeze to death.

"Ah, shit-"  
I heard him cuss heatedly as I finally joined him and rested my back onto the pole right next to him after he sat up to block the breeze coming from his left side and our shoulders eventually touched.

"Don't give me that-"

He started as I gave him quite the blunt look while he threw his jersey over my waist and he draped it quite tidily around my far too bare legs since I was only wearing shorts and a slightly over sized T-Shirt. But covering me with something this large was an easy task considering the significant height difference when I happened to sit right next to him.

I chuckled, much to his surprise he tried hiding beneath a look of badly pretended annoyance, his face easily gave it away.

He clicked his tongue, something he often did when another stubborn thick-head met with his, crossed his arms since they were completely exposed thanks to me and tried staring me down to finally make me put on my boots.

"Taiga."

His warm eyes jumped back to my face waiting for what I would to say.

"Why the hell did you come out here in the first place?"

The human heater beside me was obviously avoiding the question since I really had a point here, he was cold as well, I could have gone out to buy some drinks, nothing might have been wrong with me to make him follow me down here and share this breathtakingly cold moment with me.

"How come you're the one to ask _me_ that?"

His voice was supposed to sound annoyed and like he was scolding me, but the only thing it did was make me let out another chuckle.

I tightened the jersey around my waist and inched closer to him since his arms started getting goosebumps without him wanting to admit it.

Reluctantly slipping into the boots that I really didn't need at this point, his expression softened as he let out a sigh and put up both his hands up to his neck while allowing me to sit slightly in front of him with my left side nicely leaning onto his torso that still managed to beam with heat.

"I might sit out here for another while, you'll get cold too if you stay like that."

Not looking at me and relaxing his ridiculously long legs, his face looked much more serious before he shrugged.

 _Don't go saying you wouldn't mind anyway now-_

"That's true."

Now he almost got me.

"I can hold out a little longer though."

With that, he carefully lifted his left arm, grabbed one of my wrists and just looked down to me while he let his natural warmth radiate from a simple touch.

The heat came like a wave before my arms started breaking out in goosebumps.

Thinking about it now, I'd really have liked to just get up and let him drag me into the welcoming warmth of his apartment like he was still thinking about even now.

"Would it be enough if I told you I felt like I was about to suffocate in my own four walls?"

I knew he wasn't going to ask me anyway, but I really owed him for waking him up, hogging his clothes and wasting his time he would better be off sleeping which he'd be feeling really groggy for in the morning. Meaning about three hours from now.

"Fits the image pretty well, yeah..."

He waved it off and gave me what looked like a knowing gaze mixed with a smile while his right arm was covering both of mine and I leaned against his back with my face.

I stayed like that a little longer as I was starting to drift off to pretty much needed sleep while I could feel the slight trembling of his shoulder blades beneath me since not even he could keep warm at this rate.

"You're shaking pretty badly though..."

I already wanted to protest seeing how he was hardly better himself before I felt how my body had literally cramped up due to the cold and the fact that I had almost dozed off.

"Seriously, you should have enjoyed the cold enough now, you better get warm soon-"

He sounded even more concerned and slightly tired while I shifted in my seat and was about to get up on my own as well.

"Yeah."

Right now, I felt like those times I had started getting shivers from low blood pressure or overexerting my body too much.

Without a word, he reached out and swiftly got hold of my arm with one of his rather large hands before I could even stagger around and fall back down due to intense shivers that completely washed over my limbs although I was unable to feel the cold properly.

"Come on up."

I trudged up the staircase with the two tones redhead trailing close behind me until I started staggering a little and threatened falling over since I was feeling pretty dizzy from fatigue and what not.

"Ah, Sorry-"

He ignored it and carefully took my right arm to fling it over his shoulder while almost carrying me back since he would have easily lifted me off the ground by that sudden movement.

I was pretty sure he was contemplating to just do so, but he refrained from doing that for whatever reason he might have had, despite the strong urge to reach his bed as fast as possible.

"Damn, I'm tired!"

The redhead exclaimed after tossing his shoes off recklessly after holding the door open so I could slip inside his apartment and waited for me to follow his example.

After doing the same and making my way over to his comfy couch that felt like it was already calling for me, I was stopped upon the sight of sheets and clothes spread all over my usual sleeping spot.

"That place won't do, quite a mess."

I let out a sigh and took off his jersey after wearing it up here and handed it back to him by tossing it in his direction where he caught it like he never did anything else. Which wasn't too far off considering he was rarely seen without a basketball at hand.

"My bad."

the look he gave me would have managed to provoke me if it wasn't for my tiredness telling me it wasn't worth wasting my energy on, so I just looked over to him while he made a beeline straight back to me and shoved me to his bedroom lazily.

After staggering around for a moment and him effortlessly lifting me up since he obviously found I was taking too long and just barely kept my head from colliding with his door frame, I let out a soft chuckle and grabbed hold of his arms just to be safe from meeting with the lamp that hung down from the ceiling or avoid falling off since he was almost sleepwalking since he sensed his bed was so close now.

 _Wait._

"Taiga."

"Huh?" his voice was quite hoarse and he gently placed me back on the floor while looking down to me.

"I'm not really used to a fluffy comfortable...huge-ass bed like yours."

Disregarding my struggle, he wriggled his way out his sweatshirt, threw it over my head loosely so I still had to put my arms through the sleeves and put his jersey back on before pushing me forward almost impatiently like he just wanted to sleep for whatever saints sake.

"But it's warm..."

 _...That's true._

I was quite amused by the fact how none of us was bothered by sleeping together despite not going out, but rather him being too lazy to care and me being unused to a proper bed rather than my- or his much more familiar sofa.

"Better not tell the others."

I mumbled, closed the door behind me and watched how the tall teen flopped face down onto his bed, buried his head in his pillows and was already good to go while waiting for me to stop standing there.

A small smile cracked my lips upwards as he turned to me, opened one of his eyes and sleepily uttered a confused "What?" while I climbed under the sheets and could already feel his warmth being spread across the whole bed and all the was to me.

"Sorry for disturbing your sleep-"

A large hand stopped me and pulled the blanket to cover the both of us while taking a longer strand of my hair out his face since it tickled quite annoyingly once he was sleeping. He already took in a sleeping position until I settled down on my left side, facing his sleepy and unmistakably beat features.

"You need it just as much as I do though."

I furrowed my eyebrows questioning that before he continued with a cocky grin that seemed oddly out of place mixed with his tired face.

"You look like dead-"

I quickly untangled my right hand from under my pillow and brushed it against the ridiculously warm place at the nape of his neck, resulting the half sleeping redhead to flinch remarkably and shoot me with a death glare I couldn't take seriously.

"Oi...!" His gruff voice sounded crackly as I chuckled with my eyes closed as I slowly pulled away my hand as he had tried to slap it away from that rather sensitive spot out of reflex.

While I put it back under my hair that was spread over the other side of the bed so it wouldn't accidentally get buried under his frame or much worse, make him dream of the return of the hair monster , he seemed to have calmed down and started watching my red from laughing face.

"Don't you dare kick me while having some crazy ass nightmare later."

My eyes slowly opened and were locked with his deep red orbs, calmly looking at me as if he already knew.

My eyebrows furrowed slightly before I closed my eyes tightly until the sight of his strangely serious expression and half lidded eyes faded into black.

"If I had one I'd tell you."

Forcing a smile, sure it would be too dark for him to tell it was fake, I brushed off the thought of being paralyzed yet again and buried my face in the pillow that was easily big enough for both our heads to rest on.

I was aware he'd keep an observant gaze on me until he's eventually lost to his laziness and I eventually surrendered to sleep deprivation and couldn't even hear him breathe calmly right after he inched slightly closer as he caught a whiff of that familiar scent that filled his nose as he inhaled it.

Hopefully, the next time waking up wouldn't be to lack of air due to me holding my breath while being trapped between sleep and being awake.

* * *

 _Paralyzed_


End file.
